CONSCIENCE AND SIN.

Conscience and Sin.

DAILY MEDITATIONS FOR LENT,

INCLUDING WEEK-DAYS AND SUNDAYS.

BY THE REV.

S. BARING-GOULD, M.A.,

AUTHOR OF “THE MYSTERY OF SUFFERING,”
“THE VILLAGE PULPIT,” ETC.

London:

SKEFFINGTON & SON, 163, PICCADILLY, W.
1890.

Preface.

It is advisable that all should have a clear understanding as to the nature of Conscience, the dangers to which Conscience is liable, the Nature of Sin, and the Effects of Sin. Too many people go on easily from day to day making no spiritual advance, because they do not know what ails their Consciences, do not even suspect that their Consciences are ailing, and so make no effort to escape from their unsatisfactory condition. It is hoped that this little book of meditations may be of use to such.

Contents.

Conscience and Sin.

Ash Wednesday.

ON CONSCIENCE.

God has created man for a purpose, and that purpose is, that he should attain to everlasting blessedness.

God is good and loving unto all His works. He made the plants and the beasts, and set them ends to accomplish here on earth, but the ends for which man was made are not to be attained in this life.

Through the Fall man’s mind is darkened, his connexion with God is broken, his sight of the aim to which he should tend is obscured. God has given to him His law as the rule of his actions, that man, hearkening to the revealed Will of God, may be guided aright, and so accomplish that end for which he was made, and attain finally to everlasting blessedness.

Every act of man that is in conformity with the revealed law of God is good.

Every act of man that is contrary to this revealed law of God is bad.

Every act that is in conformity with the law of God is not only actually good, but it is relatively good—that is to say, it tends to our individual advantage. It is not only good in the sight of God, but it is profitable to our own selves.

So also is the converse true, that every act done against the law of God is actually and relatively bad; it is bad in the sight of God, and it does injury to our own selves.

Now, in order that we may be able to judge whether our acts are in conformity with the law of God, He has set in us a faculty which has the office of applying the law of God to our own circumstances; and this faculty tells us whether our acts are in conformity with or contrary to the external law of God. Thus we have the exterior law, and the interior faculty, which we may almost term a law, and this inner law is called Conscience.

II. The revealed law of God, considered in itself and in relation to God, its Author, is holy, inviolable, and inalterable. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting (or restoring) the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever; the judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.... In them is Thy servant warned: and in keeping them there is great reward.” (Ps. xix. 7-11.)

But though the revealed law of God is fixed and immutable, yet when applied to the human Conscience it takes different forms, according to the state of the Conscience.

Hence it follows that the divine law ill-applied, so far from being a sure rule, may become perverted into a sanction whereby we evade the obligations laid on us, and authorize ourselves to commit that which is wrong.

We shall therefore have to consider:—

1. The nature of Conscience.

2. The obligation of obeying Conscience.

3. The different kinds of Conscience.

4. The rules of conduct relative to each sort of Conscience.

First Thursday in Lent.

THE NATURE OF CONSCIENCE.

1. Conscience, which is the gift of God bestowed on all men, Christian and heathen, is that practical judgment which points out to us what to avoid or what to do in any particular emergency that may arise. Just as we may know that there are certain laws of nature, and our ready commonsense tells us, when varying circumstances arise, how we are to act so that the laws of nature may be to our advantage instead of to our overthrow, so is Conscience the commonsense application of the indwelling consciousness of the distinction between right and wrong to emergencies, as they rise up and demand of us a choice between one course or another.

2. Conscience has a threefold exercise of its judgment.

(a) Before an action takes place, Conscience throws light on the action contemplated or proposed, tells us its moral value, and if the Conscience judges that it is good, then it counsels and permits the act. If, however, the Conscience judges that it is bad, then it dissuades from, and forbids the act.

(b) During an action Conscience is active, and in spite of all the clouds of prejudice and of passion that may have risen up, it bears testimony to the true nature of our conduct, it either encourages us to carry it through, not to be supine about it, not to abandon it before it is completed, and so leave it imperfectly accomplished, but to carry it through to the end, thoroughly and completely. Or else, Conscience does not cease from turning us aside from the prosecution of the act which it disapproves; it acts as a drag, a check, and unless resisted will completely arrest us in the prosecution of that which it esteems to be bad.

(c) After an action, Conscience recompenses us by the satisfaction we feel, the approval it accords to us for having either accomplished what it advised, or for having abandoned that conduct which it disapproved. So S. Paul speaks of people being “a law unto themselves,” shewing “the work of the law written in their hearts, their Conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing, or else excusing, one another.” (Rom. ii. 14, 15.) This is the “testimony of the Conscience,” “the answer of the good Conscience” to which both S. Paul and S. Peter appeal.

3. We have seen that Conscience instructs, judges, and rewards or punishes; but we must consider further, that Conscience does not control the will of man, it merely dictates to the will what is right, and warns it as to what is wrong. It uses no constraint. Man’s will is free; Conscience clears the eyes of the mind, and shews it what conduces to welfare, and what to destruction, but it neither impels man irresistibly into the former course, nor holds him back forcibly from taking the other. It shows man what is medicine and what is poison, but it does not compel him to take one and reject the other, for the will of man is absolutely free.

First Friday in Lent.

THE NATURE OF CONSCIENCE.

(Continued.)

1. Conscience, in the order of religious life, is that which the Court of Justice is in the order of public life, a court that has been instituted by the legislature to keep discipline and well-being in the State, to protect the individual in his person, his property, and his repute.

Thus Conscience takes the general laws of God and explains them in their bearings on our own conduct, and applies them to our several cases. Also, Conscience sees to the execution of the law—that it shall be obeyed as well as acknowledged. Also, Conscience punishes every infraction of the law.

In other words, Conscience is the interpreter of the law of God, it is the judge sitting in judgment on us for our observance or non-observance of the law, and it is the executioner carrying out the sentence against us. As interpreter, Conscience enlightens us as to the requirements of God, explains to us what is obscure, and smooths the way so that our wills, enlightened and ready to act without impediment, may take a direction one way or other.

An act does not become just or sinful till the will has consented to the advice of the Conscience as interpreter, or has turned against it and deliberately gone contrary to what it has laid down. Every wilful sin is therefore a determinate revolt against God.

2. But Conscience is more than interpreter, judge and executioner; it is also our accuser and the witness against us.

As accuser, it pursues the guilty everywhere, into the innermost recesses of the thoughts.

It sees clearly, it knows all the circumstances, it declares with unhesitating voice both what is the nature of the sin, and what is the condition of the sinner. Thus to the office of accuser it unites that of witness, presenting itself ever before the accused, with unshaken testimony. It has seen all; it has seen all as it is; and it has forgotten none of the circumstances.

As judge, it is enlightened with Divine illumination that pierces through all the mists of prejudice and clouds of passion, and nothing escapes from its vigilance.

As judge it is also severe, not easy and indifferent, for it has not its own law or humour to obey, but the divine law, which it interprets and administers.

It is just, for it stands in that position that it is between God, the Lawgiver, on one side, and man, who breaks that law, on the other. If it be inclined to over-leniency, if it be unjust, then Conscience is itself corrupted. But we are not now speaking of Conscience degraded, cajoled, bribed, and dishonest, but of the true Conscience as divinely illumined and divinely directed to judge aright. And as just and enlightened Conscience passes its judgment, and then takes up the office of executioner. “If,” says S. Paul, “we would judge ourselves we should not be judged.” That is to say, if we suffer our Consciences to perform their proper function here in the time of life, to pass sentence upon us justly, and execute the sentences passed, then there would be no second judgment for us at the last. That judgment is needed only because so many people refuse to permit Conscience to perform its divinely-ordained work here in this life.

Then consider Conscience as the executioner. It punishes man here, to work out his amendment. But if Conscience be not suffered to perform its divinely allotted task here, then it will do it in eternity when the time for amendment is over. That is the worm that dies not, that the fire that is never extinguished. Conscience is given to us as our executioner here in order to improve us, not to torture us unprofitably. It punishes us to work in us repentance. These are the two operations of Conscience as executioner.

First Saturday in Lent.

THE OBLIGATIONS OF CONSCIENCE.

1. As Conscience is a gift of God we are responsible to Him for the use we make of it. Conscience is the moral faculty; as the eyes are organs of the faculty of sight, the ears of the faculty of hearing, so has Conscience the faculty of seeing and knowing and distinguishing right from wrong. As God has given us sight and hearing we exercise these faculties, and, what is more, cultivate them. So, as God has given us the moral faculty, we exercise it, and cultivate it, if we desire to fulfil the ends for which God has created us. God gives us eyes to see our way, and not strike against walls, and fall into pits. So God has given us Conscience to see our moral way, and not run into temptations, and to avoid moral dangers.

2. As Conscience is that interior judgment which God has planted in us to dictate to us what to do, and what to avoid, on special occasions, then, to disobey the voice of Conscience is to disobey the Voice of God. Not only so, but, as Conscience points out to us that a certain course is one to which duty calls us, and we refuse to follow the indication of Conscience, this is a revolt of the will against God, and when the will, knowing what is right, deliberately chooses what is wrong, it commits mortal sin. It was so with Adam and Eve. They knew the Commandment of God, and wilfully went against His Commandment, consequently they had turned away from their proper end, and turned themselves into the camp of rebels against God.

3. When S. Paul says, “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin,” he is speaking of the eating of meats offered to idols; and he shows how that Conscience is the rule as to whether a thing is sinful or not. Idols are naught, so that the things offered to idols are not actually polluted by the oblation; nevertheless, if the Conscience refuses to admit this, and argues that, as a meat has been offered to an idol, the partaking of it is participation in idolatry, then to eat of the meat that has been offered brings guilt on the soul. “He that doubteth is damned if he eat.” (Rom. xiv. 23.)

4. From this we may draw a practical conclusion that it is always well to follow Conscience, even when Conscience, ill-instructed, may be in error; that if Conscience disapprove of a course of conduct, and yet may not understand clearly on what grounds it utters its disapprobation, it is safest, indeed it is right, to obey Conscience, and not take advantage of its hesitation.

That a Conscience may be ill-taught, and therefore in error, that a Conscience may be perverted, we shall see presently; but what appears to be abundantly clear is that it is advisable always to obey Conscience in all things; but then we must be careful to have the Conscience well-instructed, clearly illuminated, so that it may not be hesitating, confused, and liable to direct us wrongly.

5. When Conscience hesitates, and is doubtful between two courses, it is right to seek advice from such as are experienced in the direction of Conscience.

Moreover, the Holy Spirit must be invoked to open the eyes of the understanding, and guide into truth. When hesitation and doubt still remain, then the safest course to adopt is that line of conduct which is likely to entail most trouble, likely to cost us most, least likely to attract notice from others; also, generally, if not always, the simplest and most natural line is the right one; but self-interest, or a disturbed moral sense, may incline one to take another line that is not absolutely wrong in itself, but is less right because less natural, and simple, and direct, and common-place than the other.

First Sunday in Lent.

CAUSES OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF CONSCIENCE.

1. Conscience as given by God to man is sound, vigorous, and direct. It sees clearly what the truth is, and distinguishes at once good from evil.

Whatever God gives is good, and God gives this faculty of distinguishing between good and evil to man for a purpose, essential to man, that he may follow his course, and attain to that end for which God made him. Therefore, God certainly gave to man, originally, a sound, sturdy, and clear-seeing Conscience, to be the pilot of his vessel, the driver of his chariot, the legislator of his state. That we may,—indeed, that we must acknowledge. God Himself set man in the world to accomplish a certain work, and He furnished him adequately for the fulfilment of the task allotted to him.

2. But, man’s Conscience is not what it was when God first made man; it has been debilitated, it has been vitiated by original sin. The first sin of Adam, and the sin that has issued from that original fault, has formed a habit of sin in the human race, that infects, weakens, in some cases paralyzes, the Conscience. So that it no longer sees as clearly what is right and what is wrong, as at first; it has no longer the same unhesitating voice; nor has it the same power of influencing the will as at first, for the will itself has become distorted. The unsettlement of Conscience has allowed the will to become impatient of restraint, and to incline to follow other impulses than that of the moral faculty. The will is also inclined to evil through the poison of sin which has passed into the nature of all men since the fall, and though, by Baptism, the antecedent guilt of original sin is put away, yet its deteriorating effects are not all removed. God receives us by Baptism into a state of grace, in which state that which has been marred by the fall can be restored; but the fact of Baptism does not at once restore, it only sets us in a condition in which restoration is possible.

3. There are several causes operating on our Conscience which tend to vitiate it:—

(a) Ignorance of the Divine Will, and of the law of God for us. Adam had a fully-enlightened Conscience, he knew uninstructed what was God’s purpose and what was God’s Will, but it is not so with us, or is so only in a very rudimentary and inadequate manner. We have to be taught the Will of God, and to learn His Commandments.

Consequently, it is incumbent on us to strive in every way to remove this ignorance, by reading Scripture, by receiving instruction, and by seeking after light by prayer.

(b) Prejudice, the result of ignorance and pride, or simply of ignorance and a warped judgment, owing to false instruction. There can be little chance through ignorance of going wrong in the main, broad principles of duty to our neighbours, but imperfect teaching or erroneous teaching relative to our duties to God, may well be the cause of our failing to perform, or performing inadequately, or performing wrongly our duties due to Him. Hence we require a sure moral guide to expound to us the law of God, and this God has given us in His Church.

(c) Passion, or concupiscence, which induces the Conscience to permit whatever flatters or gratifies the body or the mind. S. Paul says that in his natural state, “That which I do I allow not; for what I would that do I not; but what I hate, that do I ... to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not, but the evil that I would not, that I do.” He is here picturing himself in his old, carnal, unregenerate state, but under grace, it is other, there Divine help is given to enable the will to submit to the law of God and cast out the domination of the carnal appetites.

(d) Lax public opinion, which sets up a low moral standard, and brings Consciences to sleep, so long as they conform to public opinion, and make that the rule instead of the law of God. This is a great means of blunting and deadening Conscience, for it sets up man as a supreme authority in morals in the place of God, it makes the judgments of the world override the revealed Will of God.

First Monday in Lent.

CAUSES OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF CONSCIENCE.

(Continued.)

Conscience may command, forbid, advise, permit.

(a) Conscience, when certain as to the moral right of a course of action, utters its peremptory command that it shall be done. We often are satisfied with a negative obedience, and consider ourselves discharged from all obligation to render positive obedience. For the commandments are negative. “Thou shalt not” do this or that. So, if we abstain from murder, theft, adultery, &c., we are satisfied that we are fulfilling the law. But in the Gospel the negative law, or law of prohibition, is not only greatly expanded, but it is turned into a positive law. “Thou shalt love God with all thy heart,” &c., and “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” It is a bit of self-delusion for anyone to suppose that he is fulfilling the law of his being if he merely abstains from those things prohibited. We have positive obligations laid on us, and these positive obligations the enlightened and healthy Conscience points out to us. Not only must we abstain from anger, but we must cultivate love. Not only must we avoid revenge, but we must do good to them that despitefully use us and persecute us. Not only must we avoid gluttony and drunkenness, but we must cultivate self-denial.

(b) Conscience forbids the commission of those things which are condemned by God’s law. As already said, God’s law has been expanded since the first imposition of it. “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; but I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery, but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.... Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths; but I say unto you, Swear not at all.... Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil.... Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy; but I say unto you, Love your enemies.... Be ye perfect even as your Father, which is in Heaven, is perfect.”

(c) Conscience advises when there is a choice between two ways, each good, but one more good than the other. In that case it points to the higher and nobler course of action, that which, perhaps, costs more to us, is more arduous, and most painful. It does not require us, under pain of condemnation, to take the higher course, it merely recommends it as the superior, and shows that there is no sin incurred by choosing that which is inferior. Thus our Lord gave certain counsels of Perfection, but every man was to do as he thought best, in following them or not. So also S. Paul concerning marriage, he says that the condition is holy and unblameable, nevertheless he would advise to remain even as himself.

(d) Conscience permits the choice of an inferior course when it has advised a higher, when it has weighed all the circumstances; when it judges that the will is not strong enough to carry out the performance of the higher course, or that the taking of the higher course would subject man to temptations, or involve him in difficulties beyond his capacity of resistance or escape.

First Tuesday in Lent.

ON THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF CONSCIENCE.

I.—The Direct Conscience.

1. The various causes enumerated have been the occasion of Consciences becoming very various in quality. Of these varieties there are the following:

(a) The Direct, or Sound Conscience.
(b) The False Conscience.
(c) The Scrupulous Conscience.
(d) The Relaxed Conscience.
(e) The Doubtful Conscience.

2. In the first place let us consider that vigorous and healthy Conscience which we call a Direct Conscience.

Now God intended all Consciences to be direct, and the object of all moral instruction is to bring crooked Consciences right, and to bring ignorant Consciences to a knowledge of what is right.

The direct, sound Conscience is that which we should aim all our lives to obtain. And as it is the interior manifestation of the Will of God, and an obligation is laid on us to obey it, we must observe what it commands, abstain from what it forbids, and respect what it counsels.

We must (a) use our utmost endeavour to learn our duties aright, both towards God, our neighbours, and ourselves. We owe to God the obligations of love, reverence, worship, and obedience. Our duties to our neighbours are tolerably plain—the State enforces most of them. We must respect the persons, the property, and the good name of our neighbours. Our duties to ourselves are to educate and develop all those faculties, physical, mental, and spiritual, God has put in us, to keep our bodies in temperance, soberness, and chastity; to cultivate our reason and our intelligence—the reason so as to be able to form just judgments, and the intelligence so as to be able and eager to acquire knowledge; to nourish and discipline our souls so that our spiritual faculties may be alive to divine things, able to pray, to meditate on God, and be conscious of His Everpresence.

(b) We must endeavour to bring under our self-love, which is disposed to confuse and lead astray the Conscience by advising such things as are convenient and flattering to self, and making them appear right, or, at all events, admissible.

(c) We must seek to be serious in determining our conduct, to avoid all waywardness and caprice, remembering that for whatever we do we shall have to give account.

3. We must now consider what are the means whereby we may obtain a Direct or sound Conscience. These are many, but a few of those that are principal and fundamental must suffice.

(a) The study of God’s Word, especially of the words of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Apostles. Nothing is more calculated to give a healthy and straightforward Conscience than this.

(b) Experience. We must bring our intelligence to bear on our acts; Conscience was never meant to be blind instinct, but a bright, fresh, enlightened faculty, assisted at every step by the intelligence, and the intelligence will work on the facts of experience, and shew us where we have been doing what is right, and where we have been going wrong.

(c) Hold to first principles. Self-love is very much disposed to lead us into a maze of lines of conduct, and to encourage us to adopt that most easy, most flattering, most profitable to take. It brings up side duties, and exaggerates them to obscure broad principles. As a man when travelling, on coming to cross lanes, ascends a height to get a clear idea as to the main line, the direction in which he is going, so must we ever go up to the broad first principles to obtain a general survey, and follow the direction thus indicated.

Second Wednesday in Lent.

THE FALSE CONSCIENCE.

1. That Conscience may be perverted so that it allows those things that are wrong, and forbids those things that are right, is, alas, very true. S. Paul speaks of this. “Unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and Conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” (Titus i. 15, 16.) And again, he speaks of those whose Consciences are seared with a hot iron (1 Tim. iv. 2); and again, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, he speaks of evil Consciences. Now an evil Conscience can only be such an one as—originally good and sound—has been turned about so as to be bad and diseased, allowing such things as it should condemn, and condemning such things as it should allow.

2. Now a False Conscience may be either invincibly wrong, or vincibly wrong, that is to say, incurably bad, or curable.

It does not by any means follow that he who follows his Conscience, invincibly false, commits sin. Not only does he not commit sin, but he is probably doing what is the best for his spiritual condition under the circumstances.

For instance, take a man who has been born and brought up in Dissent, into whose mind has been inground the maxim that he must fight against the Church. So long as he does resist the Church by fair means he is not sinning, the Devil cannot count on him as fighting in his army against the Kingdom of God, as an enrolled soldier of evil. That he is not. He is doing right, according to his lights. But, supposing he has recourse to illegitimate means of defaming and undermining the Church, such as spreading scandalous stories against its members or ministers, knowing them to be false, then his resistance to Christ’s kingdom becomes sinful. Prejudice, the result of a false education, has become so enrooted that his error is invincible, except by some supernatural illumination. It was so with Saul. He fought against the Church, but he did it from a right motive. As soon as God miraculously converted him to a knowledge of the truth, then he became an Apostle under that Gospel which he had formerly resisted.

3. Now let us consider the case of a Conscience in a condition of vincible error. As a vincible condition of error is one from which nearly any man may free himself if he takes the pains, he sins if he follows a false Conscience, without making any effort to set it right. The error being voluntary does not excuse the act. Through indolence, or indifference, or prejudice, he does not attempt to give himself a direct and sound Conscience, and he sins in following his Conscience when he commits something wrong, or omits something right, not because he is following his Conscience, but because he has made no endeavour to educate his Conscience to discriminate rightly.

As this is the case, we see how important it is for us to avoid narrowness, and to cultivate broad and liberal views. Narrowness is ignorance, and it petrifies the Conscience into a perverted direction. Everyone is morally bound to endeavour to the utmost of his power and opportunities to lay aside error, and to rectify his Conscience. This he can do by examining every question presented to him in all its aspects, for till he has so done, he cannot be sure that his view is the right one.

Again, he must pray for guidance. The Holy Spirit is given to the Church to guide all the members of Christ into truth. Lastly, he must submit his opinion to that of the holy, undivided Church, which is the pillar and ground of the truth.

4. It sometimes happens that in spite of efforts made to attain to a right Conscience, it remains in the same distorted and false condition as before. Either the mental faculties are insufficient to rectify it, the judgment is cramped, and habit or prejudice has obtained too strong a hold to be overcome. In such a case the Conscience is invincibly wrong, but nevertheless, its promptings must be obeyed. God, Who sees all things, and is full of mercy, will make allowances, only not for disobeying the mandate of Conscience.

Second Thursday in Lent.

THE SCRUPULOUS CONSCIENCE.

1. The Scrupulous Conscience is a niggling Conscience that vexes itself about inconsiderable matters, and magnifies trifles into things of importance.

The Scrupulous Conscience is that which has no sense of proportion. In a large number of cases it is vastly particular over matters of indifference, and supremely indifferent about matters of importance. It is a Conscience that never goes back to first principles.

This was the sort of Conscience possessed by the Scribes and Pharisees, who tithed mint, and anise, and cummin, and passed over the weightier matters of the law. (Matt. xxiii. 23.) By Scrupulous Conscience is not meant a tender Conscience, but an itchy one. It is one that is ever suffering from vain apprehension, and regards things harmless and licit as though they were forbidden.

A sound and direct Conscience is necessarily a tender one. It sees what is right and what is wrong, all in due proportion; and shrinks from what is evil as from a serpent, and also is never at rest if it does not fulfil those obligations which it sees are enjoined. A Scrupulous Conscience is one that sees everything topsy-turvy, it magnifies trifles, and passes by without seeing them the more plain and obvious duties. It is influenced, not by its knowledge, but by its fears, and this allows it to strain at gnats and swallow camels.

The Scrupulous Conscience often causes quite as much scandal as the erroneous Conscience, for people see it making much of small matters, and are led to despise or disregard Conscience as an unreliable guide.

2. That a Scrupulous Conscience may be brought to a right perception of the relative proportions of duties, it must, or at all events, it is most advisable that it should be put under directions by a wise Confessor, who will labour to give it robustness, will strive to drag it out of its confusion, and set it well aloft, where it may be able to survey the whole map of the county of duty, and orientate itself accordingly.

A right Conscience is also a tender one, but the converse is by no means true, that a tender Conscience is always a right one.

3. A Scrupulous Conscience is often a companion to extraordinary self-conceit. To bring it into healthy condition, and remove its distortion of view, humility must be very resolutely practised. Even where there is not self-conceit, there is generally self-centredness, the mind is for ever turned in on self, and occupies itself with probing all its tender places, and fretting it into sores. The best, if not the only remedy for this is the forcible disengagement of the mind from the consideration of self, and rough, resolute, and protracted labour for others.

Consciences are sometimes scrupulous about the misdeeds, real or imaginary, of others, and inert in judging of their own condition. Cruel acts of injustice are done under the plea of obedience to Conscience—this is due to the undue scrupulosity of the Conscience which considers only itself; on the other hand, great lack of charity, courtesy, and consideration for the feelings of others is shewn by a Scrupulous Conscience, which concerning itself with others only, disregards the broad principles of right action as relates to itself.

4. In directing a Scrupulous Conscience aright, care must be taken, not only to give that Conscience a clear and healthy view of the comparative proportions of duties, and the comparative sinfulness of things forbidden, and to bid it distinguish between those things that are duties, and those which are optional; those things that are sins, and those which are harmless; but also, it must be bidden to take into consideration its responsibilities to other persons as well as to itself, so that under the plea of following Conscience some gross piece of injustice or rudeness may not be committed.

Second Friday in Lent.

THE RELAXED CONSCIENCE.

1. The Relaxed Conscience is that sluggish and careless Conscience which allows itself to be ruled or influenced in its determinations by the voice of public opinion, or by the supposed interests of the person present or future.

In the matter of religion idolatry is mortally sinful, for it is the making by man of a religion for himself instead of accepting one from God. A man is as truly an idolater when he fashions for himself a sect, as when he makes a graven image. No man has any right to invent doctrines, and establish a ministry of himself. Such religion is from below, whereas the divine religion is a revelation from above.

Precisely so is it with regard to morality. No man must seek for the moral sanction in the voice of public opinion, or in anything below. He must seek it above, in the revealed Will of God.

Thus a Relaxed Conscience, that is governed by the public voice, by the press, by private personal interest, dethrones God from His place as Lawgiver, and sets up public opinion or personal interest in His room. It does not seek its sanction in Heaven, but on earth.

As men make to themselves gods to worship, and sects and doctrines, so do men make to themselves laws of ethics. He who worships and believes in such gods and such doctrines as suit him is an idolater, or a heretic, and he who obeys only such moral laws as suit him is every whit as much in sin.

2. Now very few persons making any profession of religion deliberately relax their Consciences, and submit them to the earth-born law of right and wrong. They far more commonly allow it unconsciously to modify their views of right and wrong to suit their own convenience. They take God’s Commandments, and pare and shape till they have fitted them to their low ideas, and accommodated them to their practice.

This is not done all at once, and openly, but is a gradual process which, unless guarded against, will deaden the Conscience till its voice is no longer heard proclaiming any other law than the commonplace maxims of mundane morality. This relaxed Conscience, being in error, more or less voluntarily permitted, can no longer serve as a guide to conduct. On the slightest motives it is ready to permit what is not really allowed by God’s law, and to regard mortal sins as venial offences.

3. The Scrupulous Conscience exaggerated trifles; made mountains out of molehills. The Relaxed Conscience minimises great things, and reduces mountains to molehills.

4. There is but a sole remedy for a Relaxed Conscience, and that is to replace God on His throne as Supreme Lawgiver, and to bow down to and worship Him alone. Instead of our taking His law, and trimming it to fit public opinion and self-interest, we must make His Will paramount, and test everything by that. Every act must be brought to, and tried by the measure of the Sanctuary, and what falls short must be rejected. In such a matter there can be no compromise between God and mammon; God must reign, not supreme only, but alone, as the Lawgiver, to Whom Conscience looks up, and Conscience must answer His voice, and not the voice of the world, and turn to that for direction. No man can serve two masters; either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Observe this injunction of Christ. He speaks of masters giving orders to their servants, and of obedience to command in the servants. The Conscience is servant; it must obey God or the world; it cannot serve both. In the effort to serve both it becomes relaxed and useless.

Second Saturday in Lent.

THE DOUBTFUL CONSCIENCE.

1. The Doubtful or perplexed Conscience is that Conscience which cannot form a resolve. It suspends judgment on the right or wrong of an action, either because it thinks that as much is to be said on one side as on the other, or else it suspends judgment through lack of illumination, it does not see what it ought to do. Or again, it suspends judgment because it is not sure of the existence, or the obligation of a law commanding or forbidding some action.

This is the condition spoken of by S. James. “He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. Let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

The right Conscience is certain. It sees clearly and judges decidedly. So does the false Conscience see and judge, though falsely. But this Conscience is paralyzed in judgment, it sees so many reasons on one side and so many on the other, that it falls into despair, and does nothing because of timorousness, lest it should judge awrong.

2. The Conscience can hardly be doubtful about the main laws of God. It is in their application to man’s action that uncertainty lies. And it is inevitable that some uncertainty should exist, for man is put in several relations, and has duties in each that sometimes conflict. He is a member of the State, the Church, the family, and the social body to which he belongs. He has duties to those above him and to those below him, and it cannot be that these duties should always lie in parallel lines. He must sometimes exercise his judgment, and decide which among several duties he will observe and which pretermit.

3. Conscience should never be suffered to remain in suspense, and in suspense be left unacted upon, for Conscience is given us to spur us to action, not to excuse us from acting, and so sanction inertness. Unless Conscience be acted upon, it becomes debilitated.

We must act. We will now see how in doubtful cases one ought to act.

4. An opinion presents itself before our minds to be adjudged on. The intelligence, in face of two contradictory courses of conduct, has to determine which is right and is to be followed, and which is wrong and has to be avoided.

(a) An opinion may be slightly probable, when it is founded on motives that are insufficient to determine the assent of a prudent man.

(b) An opinion may be probable, when the motives impelling towards it are strong, but there is a slight probability in favour of the contrary opinion.

(c) An opinion may be certain, when all reasonable doubt is excluded, through the contrary opinion being altogether improbable.

When the opinion is certain, then it must be accepted and followed. When, however, it is only probable, or slightly probable, then the judgment must be called in to pronounce on the probable consequences. Hitherto we have considered the eye as turned to God as the sole author of law; but in such cases as there is no certainty, only probability, the Conscience is assisted by prudence, which is the action of the reason judging of the probable consequences of an act.

When the moral sanction is certain, prudence is not called in to alter the conduct essentially, only that it may order it so as to be carried out advisably; but when an opinion is probable, and not certain, then the eye of the reason may be, and ought to be, directed to the future consequences, and the judgment formed, not only on the antecedent probabilities, but also on the probable consequences, good or evil. As prudence can only judge future probabilities, it may not countermand what has certain sanction. Very often the consideration of probable consequences assist us in determining the right or wrong of an act, which antecedently is not certain.

Second Sunday in Lent.

ON PRUDENCE.

1. God wills not only that we should consider His law as the rule of our conduct, but also that we should exercise Prudence in the obedience we render to His law.

Prudence is a faculty given to man by God, a scintillation of His foreknowledge whereby man is able, in a measure, to look into the future, and it is a useful handmaid to judgment.

Prudence is called in (a) for the determining of a line of conduct, and (b) for determining the manner in which a determined line of conduct shall be carried out. When our Lord exhorts, “Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves,” He exhorts to Prudence. “Whatsoever thou takest in hand, remember the end.” (Eccles. vii. 36.)

In the first place, Prudence is called in for determining a line of conduct. When the moral sanction is indubitable then it can alter nothing; all it can do is to advise and direct as to the carrying out of what is determined on so as not to jar against the rights of others.

But when there is only probability on our side, then Prudence is invoked to say what the consequences that will result from such an action are likely to be, good or bad; and so may exercise a very valuable function in advising or dissuading.

Prudence looks to the near future, and to the remote future. It considers what are likely to be the consequences in this world, and whether the course of conduct will receive the sanction of the all-seeing, all-just Judge at the Last Day. “The wisdom of the prudent,” said Solomon, “is to understand his way.” That is, as Conscience looks back to God for its justification, so does Prudence look forward to the course taken in obedience to the dictates of Conscience, and smoothes it.

Prudence is generally a moderator in the execution of duty. That execution might be harsh, and hurtful, but Prudence wisely softens and simplifies, abates prejudice, and commends the course of Conscience to the approval of others.

2. We will now consider some practical rules for conduct in such cases as the Conscience does not give a certain decision, but sees that different opinions may be probable, more or less, and is in hesitation which to follow.

(a) One good rule is to follow that course which is most natural; what is strained and has the semblance of being excentric is probably one flattering to self-esteem, and had better be avoided.

(b) Another good rule is to follow that course which is safest, in which there is least likelihood of disturbing others, injuring or annoying them. Also, which is least riskful to ourselves, in health, substance, or reputation.

3. It must not be forgotten that it is quite possible so to carry out a right purpose as to do wrong in the execution. Having decided on what is right, foresight and judgment are required to determine in what manner and at what time it is to be carried out. Prudence often shews us that the same result may be attained by the exercise of patience as by an impulsive and precipitous execution, and that the act performed cautiously and judiciously will do good, whereas if done at once in a headlong manner it may effect mischief. Also it shews that there are more ways in which the same thing may be done, and that there is a right way and a wrong way, a way that is advisable, and a way that is mischievous and to be dissuaded from. We are warned not to do evil that good may come, but people forget that a considerable amount of evil is done by those who do good in a wrong manner.

4. Prudence is but another name for wisdom, and wisdom is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. By understanding we see God’s law, by wisdom we know how to carry it out.

Second Monday in Lent.

ON FORTITUDE.

1. We have seen that Conscience, enlightened by Divine Revelation and assisted by Understanding, obtains a clear knowledge of God’s Will, and its application to the several conditions in which man is placed in his course through life.

We have seen how that it is not sufficient for man to know what is to be done, he must also know how it is to be done, and this is where Prudence is needed.

But Prudence is not enough. Prudence may be so timorous as to dissuade from action altogether, and may neutralise the effect of the promptings of Conscience. Prudence sees dangers, and it may magnify dangers. “The slothful man,” says Solomon, “saith, There is a lion in the way, a lion is in the streets,” and so does not go abroad. Now Prudence counsels a man not to go out of doors when there actually is a lion there, but Timidity keeps him at home on the chance of a lion being there. It is the function of Prudence to foresee dangers, take account of obstructions and difficulties, and if Prudence stood alone it might induce to inertness, and spiritual sluggishness.

2. Therefore God gives us a supplementary counter-balancing grace, which is that Fortitude, or courage, to carry us with resolute, bold hearts through the fulfilment of duty. When we know well our duty, then we prudently consider which is the best way of executing it, and then fortitude steps in to nerve us to the full and exact completion of our duty.

Many an one, having seen the right way, invokes all his fortitude to assist him in the carrying out of what is right, regardless of the advice of Prudence, and many an one, when Prudence indicates difficulties, and advises delay, falls into neglect. Each is necessary, and each is equally necessary.

3. Fortitude is a gift of God; it is an attribute of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit, not only of Counsel, but also of Strength.

We need Divine strength to undertake, strength to carry through, strength to bear the consequences of doing what is right.

(a) In the first place, having obtained a clear sight of what is God’s Will, and also having prudently considered what is the best way of fulfilling it, we require strength to brace our resolution to undertake the task set us, that is to say, to make up our minds strenuously to do that which God commands, and to do it in the way most advisable.

(b) In the second place, we require strength to persevere and not to become discouraged, and leave off imperfectly done that which we see it is our duty to do. It is often better not to begin, than to leave off what has been undertaken unaccomplished.

(c) In the third place, we require strength to endure the consequences of our act. If we have done that which is right, we cannot be sure that it will not entail on us loss, ridicule, disappointment. But we must then invoke the aid of the Divine gift of Fortitude to strengthen us to endure cheerfully such consequences as come of what we have done, putting all our trust in God, and leaving all further care to God.

4. It must not be supposed that the Divine gift of Fortitude is one and the same thing as human obstinacy. Many men are obstinate in carrying out their resolutions, and in carrying them out in their own way. They have strong wills. But the Divine grace is different; it is allied to humility, and human obstinacy is tied up with self-conceit. It is therefore not difficult to distinguish the one from the other. A lowly spirit may be strong in the Lord to fulfil resolutely the Will of God, but an obstinate spirit is a self-opinionated one that follows not God’s Will, but its own. We must be careful in examining our own selves, and seeing if there is strong resolution in us, if it is strong in the right way, and with the right sort of strength.

Second Tuesday in Lent.

ON SIN.

The Nature of Sin.

1. We come now to the consideration of Sin. Sin is either:—

(a) The revolt of the created will against the Divine Will; or

(b) A voluntary violation of a commandment of God.

2. God is the Supreme Lord of all creation, and Author of our being. His Will should be the absolute law of all created beings. But as He made men and angels in the plenitude of freedom, He gave them wills, wills wholly free, and He set before them His law as the way of happiness, revealing to angels and men that so long as they conformed their wills to His Will they would be happy. Men and angels, though created free, were for all that dependent on God; but certain angels, with Satan at their head, revolted—they set their wills in opposition to the Will of God, from dependence they aimed at independence.

The fall of Adam and Eve was different; instead of a complete revolt of the will against the Will of God, it was an inclination away from God’s Will in one particular, a transgression of a commandment, not an act of rebellion.

The revolt of the will against God is a deliberate resistance to the just and holy laws which He has laid down, and it attacks the immutable order He has appointed as the relation between Himself and His creatures. It is also a wilful attempt to change the destiny of the creature.

Thus Satan rebelled through pride, dissatisfied with what God had ordained as to his place in the hierarchy of created intelligences. He desired to be higher or different from what he was. His rebellion was against the supremacy of God.

3. Now it is but exceptional to find man wilfully, knowing what he is about, rise up in open and deliberate rebellion against God; nevertheless, such revolt is found to be among men, though it may be hoped not always, or not often conscious revolt. Those rebel against God who—

(a) Profess Atheism. They deny His existence, His law, His providence. God has put in every conscience a witness to His being, to His law, to His providence, and to profess Atheism is not only to reject revelation, but to resist the inner testimony of the Conscience. It is incipient, encouraged, and becomes habitual, till the whole attitude of the inner nature is one of antagonism to God.

(b) Who resist God’s moral law. Men may be ready to admit that there is a God in Heaven, but as His law limits and controls their liberty, they strive against the restraints He imposes on them, and submit only to such laws as they are forced by the law of the land, or by social society to observe. They cast God out of their consciences.

(c) Who resist God’s truth. Men may accept the fact that God exists in Heaven, and that He has imposed on men a moral law, but they reject His revelation regarding the facts of the Faith, the articles of the Creed, the Incarnation, the Atonement, the Resurrection, the Commission to the Church, the Sacraments. All wilful resistance to the faith as taught by the Church, the depository of Revelation, is thus a rebellion against God.

(d) Who resist God’s Church. The Church is the kingdom of God on earth, and all schism is a revolt against His authority as committed to His Church, and in as far as it is conscious and deliberate, is rebellion against God, different only in degree to that of Satan and his apostate angels in Heaven. Where this is in ignorance, it is of course otherwise. God will always consider the imperfection of man’s knowledge, and if a man resists His truth, His moral law, His Church, through invincible ignorance, He will excuse such rebellion.

Third Wednesday in Lent.

THE NATURE OF SIN.

(Continued.)

1. We have considered the first and most terrible Sin, that of the Revolt of the creature against the Creator. We might indeed consider all transgression as a rebellion of the will against the Divine Will, but it is not always so. It is not a rebellion of the will altogether, and consciously against God as Ruler, but it is a transgression of a single command, either through stress of temptation or through carelessness. It may, however, be deliberate and wilful, a transgression of one law, but without the intention of stepping into absolute and acknowledged hostility to God.

2. We sin against God’s commandment, either—

(a) By thought, when we voluntarily and with deliberation consider, and take pleasure in considering, those things which we know to be forbidden by God. The thought of evil is not necessarily sinful, nor is the emotion of pleasure that follows on the thought, unless harboured. We cannot avoid the knowledge of evil, nor can we help the sense of pleasure which is due to the corruption of our nature through original sin, but when the will consents to the thought of evil, takes it up and gives it a lodgment in the heart, then it becomes Sin.

(b) By desire, when, knowing that a certain course of conduct, or a certain act is contrary to the Will of God, we feel a desire, and encourage that desire to take the course, to do the act which we know is wrong. We sin by wilfully harbouring an evil thought, and by wilfully harbouring an evil wish. For instance, we may desire that someone who has injured us may meet with some accident, or not recover from some sickness. The thought of such a thing must at once be put aside, lest it should breed the wish that so it might be.

(c) By speech, when knowingly words are uttered either (1) contrary to truth; (2) contrary to charity; (3) contrary to religion.

1. God is truth, and loveth truth, and all falsehood is abominable in His sight. As children of God we must seek ever to be open and truthful, avoiding evasions of the truth, and perversions of the truth, and denials of the truth. That is to say, avoiding the obligation of speaking the truth exactly when it is required; twisting the truth about so as to alter its appearance and give it a look other than it should have—a dressing up of the truth, denial of the truth, knowing what we are doing. Satan is a liar, and the father of lies.

2. Contrary to charity. We sin when we speak words that are unkind, even if they be true. We have no right to reveal what we know, and to publish abroad the infirmities, the errors, the faults of our neighbours, unless we are called upon to do so for some justifiable cause. All backbiting, slandering, evil-speaking, is inspired by the Evil One, who stirs up strife, whereas God is the God of unity.

3. Contrary to religion. We sin when we speak against God’s revealed truth and His Church. But we can also sin by holding our tongues when we ought to speak. When we hear error proclaimed we are bound to stand up for the truth; not to do so is to neglect a plain duty, for God has made us all missionaries of His Gospel, soldiers in His army, to advance His kingdom by example and by precept, and we are bound by our allegiance to Him to use our best endeavours to dissipate error and remove prejudice.

Third Thursday in Lent.

THE NATURE OF SIN.

(Continued.)

1. We have seen how that we can sin against God’s Commandments, by thought, and by word. We can also sin against Him by act, and by omission. We daily say, “We have offended against Thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.”

We will therefore now consider sins of commission and sins of omission.

2. We commit sins of the first sort, that is, we are guilty of sins of commission, when we do anything, when we adopt any course of conduct, knowing it to be forbidden by God. It seems hardly necessary to say much about such sins, as they are obvious to all. It is perhaps only necessary to say that we are guilty of sins of commission, when we transgress any of the Commandments of God in the spirit, as well as in the letter. Our Lord shews us that the Commandments are expanded under the Gospel to include much more than appears on the surface. Consequently any little act of unkindness, any trifling with sensuality, any over-indulgence in eating or drinking, any disrespectful treatment of those who are in authority, are sins of commission, though they are not against the written words of the law. It is therefore right for us to consider what is implied by the written law, and to measure our conduct and weigh our acts by the spirit of charity, by first principles of justice, and then it will be found that we have allowed ourselves many things which are contrary to the spirit of the Gospel. “Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.” (Rom. xiv. 22.)

3. We use much less circumspection about sins of omission. It is therefore advisable to consider them more carefully.

We sin by omission when we omit to do those things which

(a) We are commanded by the Law of God.

(b) Our Consciences advise.

(c) We are commanded to do by those set in authority over us.

(d) We are required to do by the State, or social law.

(a) Now it must never be forgotten that our duties as Christians are not merely negative, to abstain from this and not to do that, but are positive, to advance the Kingdom of God, and work out our own salvation. Our Lord, in the parable of the unprofitable servant who hid his treasure, shews us this. We must try to discover what active work in His Kingdom He has ordained for us to accomplish, and then do it with all our might. No man has any right to live in idleness. He must do something either for God, or for his fellow men.

(b) We must obey the promptings of our Conscience. If Conscience urges, and we neglect to obey it, we are neglecting the voice of God.

(c) We are bound to obey and execute the commands of those set over us, parents, guardians, masters. If in authority, and they require us to do something, then we cannot omit doing what is ordered without incurring sin; for all authority devolves from God, and we are responsible to God for the way in which we fulfil our duties under those set over us. We must obey readily, cheerfully, and exactly.

(d) We are members of the State, and to the laws of the State we are morally bound to give obedience; all organizations, the family, society, the State, are divine in origin, and we cannot revolt against any one of these without lesion of the Spirit of Unity which makes all society possible, and that is the Divine Spirit. It is only when a social or a State law is clearly contrary to revealed Divine law, that disobedience is permissible.

Third Friday in Lent.

SOURCES OF SIN.

1. We have now considered the Nature of Sin, and shewn that it is essentially a revolt against God, either complete and conscious against God Himself, or particular, against some commandment of God.

We will now see whence Sin arises.

There are interior and exterior sources of Sin.

2. We will take, first, the interior sources of Sin. These are three—(a) Culpable ignorance; (b) Human fragility; (c) Malice.

3. Culpable ignorance. A man is guilty when he commits an act which is sinful, or omits to fulfil a duty, not knowing that the act is sinful, or that the duty is obligatory, through ignorance, but through ignorance which is voluntary, because he has neglected to learn what is his duty and what are the commandments of God, or else, because having learnt, he has allowed his knowledge to lapse, and he no longer keeps in mind what he once learnt; or else, because by trifling with his conscience he has so confused it that it no longer speaks distinctly and emphatically, telling him what to do and what to avoid. Consequently, we are bound to use our best endeavours to learn exactly what is the Will of God, and having learnt to keep in mind what has been acquired, and so promptly, and without prevarication, to obey our consciences that they may not become to us uncertain in their utterances.

We may be, and we shall be, excused if we have sinned through involuntary ignorance, but not if we have neglected the opportunities placed in our way of learning our duty.

4. Human frailty. The weakness of our mortal nature is prone to let us be drawn away into evil, either through—

(a) The violence of temptation; or

(b) The weakness of our resolution; or

(c) The force of bad habit; or

(d) The warmth and concupiscence of imagination.

5. Temptation is strong. Temptations are from without and from within. It is necessary to recognize the fact that we are being tempted in order that we may be prepared to resist. Half the sins fallen into are committed before we have realized that we are in temptation. Therefore we pray that we may not be led into temptation.

Our resolutions are weak. Some wills are much weaker than others. Nothing can be a greater blessing than to have a strong will rightly directed. A strong will perverted to evil is a great evil; but so also, and only a little less so, is to have a feeble will devoid of resolution. This is what most have, poor, crippled, infirm wills, and we must strive after God’s strengthening grace to brace and nerve these limp wills, so that we may have the will to do after God’s good pleasure. Half the sins, indeed, more than half the sins, committed are committed, not from deliberate wickedness of the will, but from infirmity of the will, which has not the strength to stand against temptation.

The force of bad habits is very great. We say that habit becomes a second nature. If we have allowed a bad habit to grow, it requires great resolution and Divine grace to enable us to cast it off.

The warmth of imagination which unfolds pictures before the mind encouraging to evil. Imagination is a faculty that may be of great service to us, but it is also one that may lead us into danger. Many a sin is committed out of curiosity. It was curiosity that led to the first transgression.

6. Malice. The sin committed out of malice is the most condemnable of all, for it issues from a will that is corrupted and resolved on disobedience. In temptation, through our frailty that leads to fall, the will is overcome; it may wish the good, but be powerless to take the right course; but where the will is set determinately on evil, there the sin is of the worst kind conceivable. This is the condition of Satan, one of continuous and complete revolt against God out of hatred of what is good.

Third Saturday in Lent.

TEMPTATIONS TO SIN.